Craig MacGillivray: Portsmouth don’t belong in League One – we’ve got to use negative thoughts to strive for promotion next term

The Blues are confined to League One for a third successive season after suffering play-off defeat to Sunderland.

Kenny Jackett’s men lost 1-0 on aggregate across the two semi-final legs.

Following an eighth-place finish with 66 points in the 2016-17 season, Pompey made a significant improvement this term.

They finished four spots and 22 points better off, missing out on automatic promotion by just three points.

MacGillivray pinpointed the Blues should be aiming for a top-two place, at the very least, next term.

And the goalkeeper, who suffered play-off heartbreak with Shrewsbury last season, believes Jackett’s troops must harness any negative feelings and use them to their advantage.

MacGillivray said: ‘I had the heartache of it being on the bench last year.

‘It didn’t quite sink in after the game but when I woke up in the morning it hurt 10 times more.

‘Weve got to use the negative thoughts or feelings and we’ve got now to strive on for next season.

'If you’re going to break it right down, we finished seventh last year and missed out on the play-offs.

‘This season we made the play-offs – so next time we need to surpass that by the very least and aim for promotion.

‘The bottom line is that this club 100 per cent does not belong in League One.’